Khartoum, 18 September 2022 – Sudan’s outbreak of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) has been successfully stopped, according to experts from WHO, UNICEF and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Declared in 15 out of 18 states, the outbreak was caused by a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV2)...

A story of determination, friendship and support 19 August 2022 – In 2021, when the news of cancer hit, Nomina Akhtar felt her world collapsing. It was discovered too late. By the time she knew, it was already stage-3 breast cancer.  Since 2015, Akhtar has been part of Pakistan’s polio programme as a community health worker. During these 6 years, she...

36th meeting of the Regional Commission of Certification endorses submission of reports for 2021 14 August 2022 – One of the key markers on the global journey towards eradication of poliovirus is certification, the formal verification of a region as polio-free. Last month, that marker got a digital upgrade. Following the resolution passed at the World...

Reaffirms solidarity and pledges and calls for action to end polio Cairo, 14 June 2022 – The fifth meeting of the Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks was convened on 14 June by WHO’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari. The meeting comes at a time when Afghanistan and Pakistan, as the last two...

Statement by the Eastern Mediterranean Ministerial Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks Delivering on a promise: achieving and sustaining a polio-free Eastern Mediterranean Region Fifth Meeting of the Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks 14 June 2022 Noting the progress achieved globally in eradicating wild...

Statement by the Eastern Mediterranean Ministerial Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks Delivering on a promise: achieving and sustaining a polio-free Eastern Mediterranean Region Fifth Meeting of the Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks 14 June 2022 Noting the progress achieved globally in eradicating...

13 May – Ramallah - On Monday 16 May, the Palestinian Ministry of Health will launch round one of a polio vaccination campaign targeting all children under age five in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The vaccination campaign is scheduled to run over three days: Monday 16 May through Wednesday 18 May 2022. Vaccination, using bivalent oral polio vaccine...

More than 150 000 children under the age of five across Djibouti are targeted to receive a second dose of polio vaccine, following the first supplementary dose given in round one of the campaign in February 2022 Djibouti – 27 March 2022: The second round of the national polio immunization campaign, led by the government through the Ministry of Health...

Pariva Hashemi talks about her journey as part of Islamic Republic of Iran’s national polio programme 8 March 2022 – It was 1991 and Pariva Hashemi had just started working for the health centre of Semnan province in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Her day started at the break of dawn and sometimes ended late into the night. She spent hours...

Djibouti, 27 February 2022 - Djibouti’s Ministry of Health, with technical support from WHO and UNICEF, today kicked off a five-day national polio vaccination campaign aiming to reach all children in Djibouti aged zero to 59 months, approximately 150,000 children. Multi-disciplinary teams of vaccinators, social mobilizers and technical experts...